In our reading for this week, the question is brought up as to whether values truly exist in the sense of freely chosen values. It also asks if human beings are instead “driven by inherited instincts” that individuals like to dress up with the term values. (pg. 7) Even though it is a complicated subject, I do believe that values exist. I completely agree with how it states that there is a great deal of evidence that individuals are not primarily driven by genetically determined instructs but instead, they are given the choice to freely choose what they believe is best for them. I think that people should definitely be able to choose to live their life according to their own personal values about how they view themselves and the world.
Of the list of the most basic ways that we come to “know” something, I agree with the intuition way the most. “Intuition is the unconscious but most powerful part of our higher mental processing capacity,” which shows that even if we aren’t consciously trying to make a life decision, our mind is still processing it. (pg. 9)
I also agree with how it says that there is a possibility that the four basic modes of developing values are actually complete, but it is not probable. Related to what I mentioned earlier, intuition could mean a completely different thing to one person than it would mean to another. Some people trust what their intuition says and others tend to not pay attention to it as much.
Overall, I think that any individual should be able to choose their own values and morals to live their life by. In my own personal experience, although I’ve been influenced by the way my parents raised me as well as my peers, I always stick to what I feel in my gut is right or wrong and trust my own personal values to make the best decision for myself.
I believe Rachel’s thesis is about how everyone should be able to choose their own values and use them to live the life they desire. I agree with her statement, “I completely agree with how it states that there is a great deal of evidence that individuals are not primarily driven by genetically determined instructs but instead, they are given the choice to freely choose what they believe is best for them.” One thing I want to challenge is what if someone does not know what is best for them? What if an individual is stuck between two values that could benefit or hurt them either way and aren’t sure what is the best for them? Often times we are caught up in a standard where we don’t know what to do. I think you did a great job identifying the main ideas of your argument within the reading and focusing on personal values and how they view themselves and the world. I think that we need to focus and look deeply into our values and how it represents us as an individual.
Dear Rachel Reid:
I enjoy what you wrote about intuition and how you make a decision. You said that you will make a decision by yourself and you would not be influenced by your family and peers. It could be true, but I don’t think in the same way with you. You have a excellent explanation of what intuition is, but do you think about a part of you decision making is from intuition. I know that you might not care other people give you any idea. However, I believe that after you listen to other people’s thoughts, you might make a little change on your original decision. Our intuition system is like a conditioned reflection that knowing the beginning and skipping the processes, but doing as the end. For example, if someone makes a unclear disagreement in what you wrote, you would disagree with the disagreement first, but you don’t know why you disagree. After you look again and again, you might find the disagreement is unclear and hard to understand. Then you know that you are correct. The orders in you mind might not usually be the same. Intuition is not really skipping the processes. It just operates too fast. For another example, reading in the mind is usually further than reading with mouth. There are still a mystery in our brains.
To think about how you make a decision, you might not go directly as what your family and peer said, but you might think about why you don’t follow their ideas. You might not say that you aren’t influenced with them. You should said that your family and peers’s ideas might not fit in yourself. You making your own decisions are excluded by their negatives. If something is positive, why don’t go for it. None can behave Independence well in the society because society norms are majority’s agreement.
Thank you so much for your valuable insight. I completely agree with your reasoning saying that listening to other people’s thoughts might make you make a little change on your original decision. You worded it perfectly by saying that “our intuition system is like a conditioned reflection that knowing the beginning and skipping the processes, but doing as the end.” That is so accurate because your mind and intuition are so used to the process and it does operate too fast. Thank you for the input on how I should have said that your family and peer’s ideas might not fit into yourself. This would definitely add to my argument in saying that an individual making their own decisions are basically excluded by their negative thinking. If you believe something is right and others are hesitant, believe what you think is best because others might not have the same beliefs and thinking that you do.
“An individual making their own decisions are basically excluded by other people’s negative thinking”. For this new argument, I can find a example of how people making decisions. Most people to make a important decision would ask friends and family help. If I have something uncertain, I will ask my best friends and listen their ideas. Then I will start thinking whether I should follow my friends’ suggestions. If my friends’ ideas does not fit in myself, then I will think other ways to solute the problem. However, if I don’t have a best friend or a person that I can trust, I have to make every decision by myself. Lives are not always easy. Some people love live with themselves, but some would like live with other people. For me, I love listening other people idea and give idea to other people if they ask me for a help. I would not think my idea is the best, but sometimes there is the only one offer, so it might be the best.